Fall is in the air.........HOORAY!!!!!

Ladies,

Hope that everyone is able to sense the change in the air!!

It has seemed forever, for most of us, to feel a cool air and breeze! Thank you, Heavenly Father for the change in seasons!! So looking forward to fall baking and decorating and crafting!!

I have spent the last couple days working on some crafts. I have posted here about the large roll top desk I got thru Craigs list.

It has some small and med cubbies in it. Total of about 11 in all. Was going to put little baskets in them to store crafting items. Then I had a brainstorm. A much less expensive idea. In fact, I am using what I have on hand already.
I began to wash up and save various , used and empty ,plastic food containers! Yogurt, sour cream, etc, you get the idea.

Some I will paint, glaze and embellish. Others I will cover with fabric and lace or paper alter them. I am NOT the craftiest. But I am learning and Brenda gives encouragement when I get too hard on myself and the finished product!! Lol! Thank you, dear friend!!

The larger cubbies each hold 3-16-20 oz containers and 1-2-4oz. There are 5 cubbies.
The smaller cubbies each hold 2-2-4oz containers and there are 6 cubbies.

Lots of room to get all my chipboard, stickers, fabric squares, beads, etc etc out of the drawers and boxes they are in!!! If I can get better at the 'upload' thing, lol, I will post pics next Wed???!!!

Today it is very gray and a bit overcast.

As a transplant from the west coast to middle America, I really didn't like the gray skies that are so often a part of the days and seasons here. Really missed the west coast sunshine of So Calif the past 2 years!

I felt the Lord led me to this move, yet I went kinda kicking and hollering the whole way!!?? Anyone ever get like that? *Smile*

Thankfully, and ONLY by HIS GRACE, I am at long last actually enjoying my new surroundings.
More than even enjoying? I am beginning to feel blessed to share this part of our country! Blessed that I am in an apt, where things that I am no longer able to take care of myself, are handled by our great maintenance crew here!

Blessed that I have a balcony that overlooks a lovely parklike setting and I can enjoy that AM cup of tea when the weather is nice!! Have a tiny garden!

Blessed that in coming from rural to suburban, I have many great large and small shops and coffee and tea houses to enjoy! Museums, antique stores and many lakes and parks!!

Most of all, blessed that I have an amazing daughter (I have an amazing 4 grown kids and 5 gkids) that I roomate with. She is full of laughter and art and paper altering crafts!



There are A LOT of differences to be certain. Thanks to prayer and His patience, I am little by little learning to be thankful for what He has granted me.

Thanks for visiting today, prayers for your day!!

Blessings,
Linda

Fall IS Coming!!!

Good Morning to all!!!

In most parts of the country, weather is at long last, turning cooler. WOW, what a SCORCHER this summer was!

Now, we can prepare for fall and cooler, lovely weather. I will enjoy so much the turning of leaves. Those autumn colors will so be enjoyed this year!!!

As we prepare for a new season, lets share some of our favorite fall recipes! Brenda and I will post some of ours here over the next weeks. Let's have fun sharing, maybe we can come up with a fun giveaway to tie in somehow............thinking.......thinking.......thinking...........

Well, as Brenda and I both have been dealing with some health issues, days can be really a bit tough sometimes?? Anyone relating???

I really try to start my mornings with quiet time with the Lord. I think that I have shared these before? Well worth sharing again........

Favorite sites to Bless You!!!

www.biblegateway.com

www.joniandfriends.org

www.ewomen.net

Check them out!! You can even sign up for daily email devotions and scripture readings!!

Ladies, ENJOY your day. May God Bless each and everyone one of you! We are keeping you in thoughts and prayers!

Blessings, Linda

Good Morning! It's a delayed post of 'Build your Home'!!

Hi Ladies!

Hope that everyone has had a good summer! Boy, it sure has been a HOT one this year!

Thankfully, at least here, rains are arriving and beginning to take the temps down a bit anyway.

It is hard to believe that school starts in many places next week.

With that in mind I would like to share one of my daughters fav recipes. Would be a quick, healthy dinner during the upcoming busy weeknights ahead. This meal easily feeds a group of 4-5 with leftovers for lunch the next day. Serve with a salad and nice french bread or baguette and you have a quick and yummy meal!

This was a food network recipe, I believe from Ina Garden?

Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp (Not a seafood fan? Try chunks of chicken sauted in olive oil, garlic, italian herbs!)

1 large bag shrimp, med-lg shrimp
1 box angel hair pasta
2-3 lemons (we like 3)
Salt and Pepper to taste
(Optional: 1 can artichoke hearts, drained, and/or 1/2-1 cup chopped sundried tomatoes)
Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

Boil salted water for your pasta, add pasta according to directions. We like our pasta al dente. When done, save 1/2 cup of liquid, then drain. Return pasta to pan and set aside.

Place shrimp onto a no stick bake pan. Salt and pepper to taste, drizzle 1 tbl olive oil over
shrimp Bake at 350 degrees for 5 min.

Put shrimp into pan, heat of pasta will finish cooking shrimp.

Juice the lemons, discard seeds. Grate the peel of all the lemons for lemon zest

Add the lemon juice, grated zest, and 1/2 cup of pasta water into the pan and mix well. Add any optional ingredients if you wish.

Plate onto a serving dish, garnish with grated Parmesan or Romano chesse.

Serve with salad and bread if you like.

This is a simple and light dish that all will enjoy!!


Ladies, as the world seems to be going kinda crazy, and the economy seems to be falling apart? Never mind what may be going on within our own homes and lives..........PRAYERS for us all as we strive to be the women that the Lord desires us to become! I am finding that no matter how hard the day may be.......if I do not start the day with HIM........the day just does not have the same flow to it. Does anyone know what I mean? Oh, it is not a guarantee that all will go well, or there won't be a crisis........however, just knowing that I gave the day to HIM........gives me the strength and the hope that I may need for the day!!!

May God Bless each of you! Thank you for stopping by and saying hello!

Blessings, Linda

Blessings

Good Morning, We have been blessed with a nice little shower this morning. But it has left us with very humid weather. But I'm sure it was very much appreciated by all my plants on the balcony. I set out for a short time just to feel the mist against my legs. But as I was sitting there thinking about the blessings the Lord has shown me, And reading a book that Linda and I are doing together as a study, I began to think about the many friendships I've had throughout my 1st half of my life. And now that I'm working on the second half, how different we react to friends. As we mature and our activities have changed, we react differently in our conversations and our exception of what others may say to us. It's like we agree now, to disagree and not to judge the difference. We find now that we have different friends that are involved in different parts of our lives. For example, I have a very dear friend Debbie, that is all into the scrapbooking and we love to scrap together and hit the big sales. Than, theirs all my farmgirl friends, we like to share recipes and craft ideas and all the going green ideas. Then there are the exercise and reading and shopping friends. And like Mary and her dear husband, has been my other half and I, pals in many hours of game time. But I realized that when God brought Linda and I together as friends through the Mary Jane Farmgirl site, he was bringing me a friend that we can share our love and faith in Christ together. We basically have a long distence friendship, only meeting each other in person, twice. Which was a real blessing. But we keep the phone lines, text and email busy. We are here to study the word and to be there to support when we have our doubts and fears. When we just don't understand why things are going the way they are and it seems that the Lord is just not there with us, we know that the other can be honest and open about the situation. Knowing that by their words they aren't trying to hurt us or make us feel worse, but to see it from a different angle and help us work through it. Always leading us back to the point, God has always been there, it was us that ventured off. So today I would like to thank him for all the wonderful ladies he has brought into my life. I know now as a adult, not to take these relationship for granted. They are very precious and valuable to who I am and who I become. And knowing they were brought into my life by God, what else could I ask for. So I pray that today, you will love and keep in touch with those special ones, that have been placed in your life. Have a good day, and so happy you stopped by.

A REFLECTIVE DAY

Good Morning Ladies!

Hope that each of you are doing well and that God is teaching and showing all we 'allow' Him too.

I say that because He is showing me that very lesson, 'allowing Him'.

I had a rough day yesterday. A LOT of family issues and deep difficulties going on. Many people praying for and over us. Yet, at the end of the day, with about 5 VERY specific prayers being petitioned to the Lord on my families behalf?? It seemed only 1-2 were meant to be answered in the ways we hoped and prayed for!!!!!

I would really love to say that I, we, handled that well, graciously, and with praise. Some of my grown kiddos handled it much better than I, and are teaching and humbling their momma, LOL!

My heart just ached and ached yesterday as we awaited news from each other ,as the answers to each trial began to unfold. Each 'answer' from Him seemed to be a 'no, not now, no not the way you had hoped for, or a no'. To say I was confused and dissapointed is a bit of an understatement. My confusion quickly thruout the day went into feelings of despair and anger.

Each detail of the trials my family is going thru are of little importance. Some I have been sharing on/off thru the blog. It's life, each one of us in this world has to deal with things.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT................Whether I like it or not, whether I agree or not (and who on earth am I to question God's wisdom and authority, by the way), whether life makes me happy or not????? Bottom line, I am here on this earth, for however long, to serve God. My family and all it's members are here to serve God.

I am here FOR HIM AND HIM ALONE!!! He is not here to be my 'candy jar' Savior!! To grab 'my candy wishes of life' whenever I want them. Like it or not, confused by outcomes or not.............HE SEES THE WHOLE PICTURE...............of our lives, the beginning and the end. It is not a mystery to HIM!

More often than not, it is a mystery to us and we think we know what is best. Often what is best is what is 'safe' for our human minds to handle. We do not like to be out of our comfort zone or to have to completely trust HIS WISDOM , too much or too often!

Ladies, I still, today, do not have the answers, I am still a bit confused for sure. I am still a bit scared and uneasy to 'LET GO AND LET GOD'. As scripture teaches us, we are all a work in progress, clay being molded in His Image.

Sometimes that 'molding' process is hard, uncomfortable, and uneasy. I am not loving it too much honestly.

What I do know, for certainty, is that I love this Savior of mine, and yours, JESUS, who took all my lifetime of sin, lifetime of uncertainty, to that cross with Him, died then rose again. So that, in accepting Him, I may have forgiveness, and , eternal life with Him.

Because in spite of my bad days of discouragement like yesterday................He is still there and He loves me unconditionally. He still waits for me to have my tantrums, calm down again......and He is there to comfort so that I can try to move forward and accept HIS WILL, in preference to my own . I am so thankful for His Grace, His patience with me. I do not deserve it, yet I know He grants it to me.


Thank you to all who stop by and share with us. May God be holding you up thru whatever you might be dealing with. Prayers to all of you for your day!!

God's Blessings,

Linda

GOOD AFTERNOON!!!

Hello Everyone!

Hope all of you are having a good summer day. It has been HOT, HOT, HOT!

Thought we may share some green/energy efficient tips. Remember to keep windows and blinds closed during the hottest parts of these scorching summer days. It helps to keep the heat out and the a/c air inside, cooler! When not at home, set the thermostat at a higher temp to save energy and $$$$$$$ on the electric bill!!!

For cleaning, I had read somewhere to use coarse salt as a cleanser. Very eco friendly! Was out of cleanser once. So, I tried it and WOW it works like a charm. Even better than cleanser. It is great on bake and cookware as well without scratching. I have now used just about any salt I have on hand. Hardly buy cleansers anymore! And, we are not flushing even more chemicals down that drain! Give it a try!


Ladies, perhaps most of you have heard about Borders closing. My daughter has been a longtime employee. This is a hard time as now again some 11,000 people will be out of work. Hoping to find new jobs in an already tight job market.

We live in such troubling, discouraging times, don't we? I have to admit, this has been an extra rough week with a lot of fear, pain, and tears! I know the Lord is in control, admitedly some days better than others!!!!

Yet, despite all that is going on in our country, world, economy and our own financial situations.
We have just GOT to hold onto the Lord and HIS HOPE, not ours! Without it, we have nothing.

We are all confused, but HE IS NOT!!!

We will have very bumpy rides , OFTEN, in this life. We have to try to let go and trust, even tho
that is the hardest thing to do at times.

Praying for each of you! Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to share.

Blessings,

Linda

Good Afternoon

When I sat down to send you all a message I thought it was still morning. So much going on and the time just passed by. I do hope that you all are having a nice summer. Here in Missouri, it's HOT!! It seems as though since the beginning of May to now things have just been crazy. For both of us, Linda and I and our families. We talk through all the craziness and think we've gotten through it all and along comes something else for the other family members. It's been unemployment, illness, taking care of elderly parents, teenage grandchildren, dealing with our own physical difficulties and everyday events. We were talking this morning about how would God react to all the hateful and rude people we run up against all the time out in the public areas. You want to put them in their place for some of the things they do that is so hurtful. And it makes you so angry that I usually turn around and leave yet carry the feelings deep inside. And you know what happens later if its not dealt with. Usually it comes out on someone else that it's not intended for. We discussed that God wouldn't quietly walk away. Of course he'd attempt at showing them the right way by example and a lasting lesson. What do you think, how would he handle this sort of person?? I don't mean to be a downer today, it's been a good one. But with the country in the mess it is right now, it's hard to keep up with the dreams and future plans. Yes, I know that a lot of our wants and dreams are not necessary, and will more than likely never occur. Really the only thing for sure~is that someday we will walk with the Lord in peace and wellness. So we need to hang on to that faith and let the Lord lead us where we can spread his goodness. I know that we are not the only ones struggling through a lot right now, and If you'd like to share with us, it helps to know others can truly understand. Of course you are all in our prayers at all times. But if there is something specific that you need extra prayer for, we are here for you. So go out and enjoy the life he's given us and make the best of it. Sending blessing to all, Brenda